


Any Day Now

by Kahales



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, Dumb Eddie, Eddie doesn't want Venom back, Eddie is scared of Venom, Eddie loves Anne, F/M, Heterosexual Sex, Like when they're sitting on the step, M/M, Pining, Pretending that the last part of the movie didn't happen, Road Head, Technically Unsafe Sex, Venom Symbiote Loves Eddie Brock, Venom learns about consent, sex in the great outdoors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-17 13:41:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16975635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kahales/pseuds/Kahales
Summary: Since the whole mindfuck with the Life Foundation, Eddie’d taken it upon himself to try to get his shit together. Exercising, eating better, socialising, trying not to pine over his ex, writing and investigating. Doing everything to try and lift the heavy fog of misery that had hung over him since he royally screwed everything up 8 months ago.It wasn’t working.Yet, He thought with a tiny bit of optimism. Maybe it just takes time.When Venom suddenly shows up again after Eddie had presumed him dead, Eddie's struggles to find happiness don't get any easier.________________________





	1. Chapter 1

It was 7.30am on a Tuesday when Eddie got the first call. He was at the gym doing deadlifts when his playlist was interrupted by the ringtone.

Since the whole mindfuck with the Life Foundation, he’d taken it upon himself to try to get his shit together. Exercising, eating better, socialising, trying not to pine over his ex, writing and investigating. Doing everything to try and lift the heavy fog of misery that had hung over him since he royally screwed everything up 8 months ago.

It wasn’t working.

 _Yet,_ he thought with a tiny bit of optimism. _Maybe it just takes time_.

Still, it all felt frivolous, he was just going through to motions, waiting for something to change. At least this way he was physically healthier and would live to suffer longer…. That’s good right?

The bar crashed loudly on the floor as he rushed to answer the phone, thinking it may be a source for his current article. The unknown number on the screen suggested the same.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Eddie?” It was a young man. 

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Okay cool, listen, my name’s Sam. And this is super weird but I just moved into your old apartment, like last week?” the sound was muffled as Sam seemed to take the phone away from his face to shush someone in the background.

Eddie had moved a while ago. The settlement had come through from the Life Foundation seemingly before he’d even made it home from the hospital after the explosion. He’d been fine, in perfect health Dan had declared after running a range of tests. Pretty miraculous considering his heart had been withering away to nothing 24 hours earlier. But the apartment had still been a wreck after he got back from the hospital. Broken glass, tater tots and pieces of furniture everywhere. The Life Foundation must have cleaned up the bodies quickly because there was no police tape and no one came around asking questions. For this Eddie was eternally grateful. He immediately packed a duffle bag and rented a room in a crappy hotel. Over the next week, from the comfort of his bed, he organised for all his possessions that didn’t look like they’d been through a woodchipper to be packed away, he’d bought a small apartment in a slightly nicer area, and he paid someone to move all his shit over for him. Thank god for the internet. He didn’t want to step foot in that nightmare of an apartment. It was full of too many shitty, _weird_ memories.

“Oh, right…. Did I leave something behind?”  

“Well, no. but I was wondering if you had a cat? There’s one here that showed up yesterday? Its just like meowing at the door?” Everything Sam said was phrased as a question, it was irritating. “Its like ginger? Kind of chubby I guess? You know how sometimes when cats get moved they get lost and go back to the old house?”

“Uhhh, no sorry buddy, its not mine. Try the lady downstairs, Edith, she had a cat. Maybe its hers.”

“Okay, thanks man. Bye.”

“See ya,” As Eddie went to hang up the phone he heard Sam give a loud screech and the connection dropped. He shook his head, looking up and saw Sarah watching him. He winked.

“Who was that?” She asked, as she loaded up her bar with weights. Eddie met Sarah through an interview for an article. Whilst the Life Foundation’s payout was definitely enough to keep him afloat for a long time, he’d taken to freelance writing to keep himself occupied. Not really the hard-hitting style he was into, but hey, it was work. Sarah had been a contact for an article regarding affordability of housing in San Francisco. She was a property manager for a local real estate company with long blonde hair and better shoulders and abs than Eddie. Soon after meeting, she’d called up asking for a date and it had just naturally transitioned to sex and gym workouts. Eddie would be the first to say that she was good for him.

“Nothing important,” Eddie shrugged, tucking his phone away. “Want a spot?”

“Sure,” she laid down on the bench and was just about to start when Eddie’s phone went off again.

“Wait a sec,” he said digging into his pocket, “Sorry, one second, I swear.” Sarah rolled her eyes good naturedly.

Looking at his phone, it was the same number as before. He answered, “Hey Sam, like I said before-” but he was cut off by the obvious sound of a cat meowing down the phone line.

“Uhhhhh…. Hello?” the meowing turned to yowling and then a voice far off in the background said “What’s wrong sweetie? Hey! What are to doing with my phone?!”

Eddie hung up. The cat had obviously accidentally hit recall or something. He turned back to Sarah with an apologetic smile. “Ready?”

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 After their workout, Sarah and Eddie headed for Sarah’s car. There was a text on Eddie’s phone that read ‘Sorry! Cat pranked ya! Haha!’ He didn’t reply.

“You wanna go out to brunch today?” he asked, sitting down in the passenger seat and strapping in.

“I can’t, some of us have day jobs to go to,” Sarah replied jokingly and she reached over to squeeze his hand. “Going to have to shower and head out quickly as it is.”

“Ahh yeah, fair enough,” Eddie stared out the window whilst he wrapped his fingers in hers. “Dinner tonight?”

“Sorry, I’m heading to my mums, Thursday though?”

“Sure,” he said, wondering how he was going to pass the time. There was that bitcoin article to write which he was already bored by or he could try working a bit more on his bigger project, though it’d all been dead ends lately.

Sarah glanced over at him quickly and squeezed his hand. “Definitely got time for a quickie in the shower though,” she said cheekily.

Eddie chuckled. “Always time for that!”

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The third call came two days later. It was lunch time, Eddie was down at the beach eating fish and chips. Well _trying_ to eat fish and chips but the smell was so horrendous it was turning his stomach. There was a whale that had beached here two days ago that had finally died today. The animal rescue teams had tried to get it back into the ocean, but the thing was just so mammoth that it was impossible. He was here to take some pictures and write an article for the local paper. Junk work really but beggars and choosers and all. He was just giving up the lunch as a bust when his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Eddie, Sam here from your old apartment with the cat?” he sounded stressed and a little out of breath.

“Right….” Eddie peered off into the distance before starting the walk over to the whale and its onlookers. “No luck I’m guessing?”

“Not as such,” Sam look a big breath, steeling himself, “Listen man, this is gonna sound crazy right? Crazy! But are you sure this isn’t your cat?” Eddie started to protest but Sam cut him off. “Only, he just- he umm….. Well… You know those videos of cats and dogs that have subtitles on them and then when the cat meows or the dog whines and you can kinda see that the dog is saying ‘I love you’ or some shit? You know those? So the problem is that this cat seems to be saying ‘Eddie Brock’ when it meows, like as much as a cat can sound like its saying that kind of thing, do you get what I mean?”

This guy was clearly losing his marbles. Eddie was approaching the whale now, it was so much bigger from close up and stunk like nothing he’d ever smelt. It burned his nostrils. He tried to breathe through his mouth instead. “I don’t know what to tell you buddy, s’not my cat.”

“That’s not everything,” Sam sounded desperate now, “Yesterday, out of the corner of my eye I saw the cat and it was black!”

Eddie sighed, scanning the beach for the most official looking person there for his first interview. “So?”

“It’s a ginger cat!” Sam said, his voice raising in pitch, “A _ginger_ cat, Eddie, that turned black and then turned back to ginger in like a second! As soon as I looked at it!”

“Sounds like a trick of the light to me,” said Eddie dismissively, “I gotta go, good luck!” He hung up, shaking his head and set the phone to Airplane Mode. He caught the eye of a youngish man in the blue polo and called “Hey there!” as he made his way over.

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There was no forth call from Sam. Just a photo.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Eddie slapped his phone face down on the bar and waved to the bartender for another beer. He tapped on the bar with his fingers, his heart was pounding in his chest and his stomach was twisting itself into knots. Anxious didn’t even begin to describe it. Panicked? Probably panicked, he nodded to himself.

A beer landed in front of him and he took a long swig immediately. There was a high likelihood that he was going to throw it up in a minute but the thought of facing this evening stone-cold sober was unbearable. He was meeting Sarah soon, he was a bit early but he couldn’t stay in his apartment. Couldn’t just sit there and wait. Not after that text from Sam.

The way he saw it, there were two possible explanations.  

Ideally, it’d turn out that Sam was a psychopathic super-fan of the Eddie Brock Show who’d decided to lure him back to his old apartment with some sort of half-baked plan involving a fat ginger cat. Maybe he’d arrive and immediately get murdered or raped or asked to pose in a bunch of awkward selfies. Maybe he’d be locked in a cage and forced to live out the rest of his life as a prisoner in his nightmare apartment.

The second option was much worse and it involved a giant body-stealing alien symbiote. And it was much more likely.

Somehow that thing had survived the explosion of fire and was trying to lure Eddie to him to merge with him again. Eddie had only known Venom for a brief time but he’d had a crash course in the terrible strength and power the creature held. Within seconds of symbiosis, Venom had taken the drivers seat in Eddie’s body and Eddie had sat back and watched the carnage occur.

Whilst Venom had seemingly done a one-eighty and completely changed his mission from ‘eat everyone’ to the much more acceptable ‘kill the monster that wants to bring more monsters to eat everyone’, the fact of the matter was that Eddie was powerless in the decision either way. Venom agreed with what Eddie wanted, its true, but Eddie had no choice but to give over his life to the cause and what looked at the time to be a losing battle. He’d prepared himself to die for it. It’d been the right choice to make but Venom’s presence meant that there wasn’t really a choice at all.

If Venom had never come to Earth, Eddie would still be with Anne, he’d still have his job, his apartment with Anne and that damn cat, Mr. Belvedere. He wouldn’t know what it felt like to hit rock-bottom. He wouldn’t know that he was capable of betraying the most important person in his life. That he could give up on caring for others and fighting for the downtrodden. When the symbiotes were brought to Earth, it set in motion a series of events that showed Eddie the worst side of himself and he didn’t want to go back to that. He was trying to be better.

Venom was back and he wants Eddie. Whatever else he has planned, that much is clear. The thought terrifies Eddie to his core, to give his life over to this… this THING… this monster that’s capable of mass destruction and _eats people._ But he had to do something, at the very least for poor Sam.

The text was of a photo of the wall of his (Eddie’s old) apartment, specifically the wall attached to the front door. But instead of just being off-white with a couple of stains as Eddie remembered it, it was now covered in scratch marks that spelt out ‘EDDIE’ over and over again. Like some girl with a crush engraving the name of the object of her affections into a school desk. Poor Sam probably thought he was in _The_ _Exorcist_.

“Eddie, hi!”

Eddie jumped, knocking over his beer in a fit of nerves. “Shit!” he cussed and hurriedly pulled some napkins from a dispenser for damage control.

“Oh sorry I startled you!” It was Anne, beautiful Anne, smiling apologetically and looking stunning a blue spaghetti strap dress. The strap of her bra was visible and Eddie recognised it as the lacy black and white one he’d bought her last her for their anniversary. His guts twisted in his stomach.

“No, hi, sorry, how are you? It’s all good,” the words tumbled on of his mouth awkwardly. He swallowed heavily, immediately regretting the dirty jeans and jacket he’d decided to wear today. God he was such a slob.

“I’m just here for a work thing,” Anne waved over her shoulder, indicating to a group of 30-something year olds in a booth at the back. “And I saw you sitting here, thought I’d say hi. You look tense, everything okay?”

“Uhhh, yeah no I’m good, thanks,” he tried to give an easy-going kind of chuckle but it got caught in his throat. “You just caught me off-guard.”

“Yeah, sorry, you must’ve been deep in thought,”

Eddie gave an awkward one shouldered shrug.

“Dan and I were talking the other day about maybe having you around for dinner sometime? What do you think? We haven’t really seen you since, you know, that whole thing, and it’d be good to catch up.”

“Uhh yeah sounds good,” his voice came out strangled and a high pitched. Honestly, after tonight he didn’t think he’d be around to come to dinner. He’d probably be imprisoned, or in space, or in some sort of secret lair, wherever Venom wanted to be. There’d be little chance of him suiting up for a civilised evening with his ex-fiancé and her far-too-understanding boyfriend. But it was easier to agree than say that out loud.

“Great! I’ll text you when I know was Dan’s movements are and we’ll organise something.” Anne smiled widely in a way that made Eddie’s chest clench up.

At that point, Sarah showed up smiling confidently at them both. “Hey,” she reached out to shake Anne’s hand. “I’m Sarah,”

“I’m Anne, nice to meet you,” Anne glanced between them. “Well, I don’t want to interrupt your evening so I’ll let you go.” She stared searchingly in Eddie’s eyes, something she used to do in the old days when she knew he was holding something in. “Text you soon okay? And if you want to chat, you know you can call me right?”

“Right, yes, of course. Thanks Anne,”

“Who was that?” Sarah asked as they both watched her walk away. Eddie was trying to burn the image of her into his head. He didn’t know when he’d get to see her again.

“My ex,”

“Still holding a bit of a torch huh?” Eddie sputtered, trying to interrupt but Sarah went on, chuckling a bit. “It’s okay, you know. I’m not worried, I have no impression that this” she indicated between them, “is a long-term thing.”

“Oh,” he hadn’t been expecting that. Some of the tension he’d been feeling drained out of him and he ploughed right ahead into one of tonight's tasks that he'd been dreading. “Listen, about us… I have to break it off, I can’t… there’s something I need to do and I don’t think I can…”

She came to his rescue, waving him off. “All good Eddie. You needed a hand to hold for a while and I like holding hands. You wanna get some chips and hang or….?”

This was a lot easier than Eddie had been envisioning which was a blessing because the everything was about to become a lot worse.

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Half an hour later, he checked his phone before he set off towards Sam’s apartment. He had two texts.

The first from Anne: “She’s cute! Bring her to dinner?”

The second from Sam: “I’m organising a priest”


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

The apartment building looked just a shitty as he remembered, covered in graffiti and piss stains with rubbish lining the street around it. A siren was going off somewhere nearby and there was a couple arguing so loudly that it was audible at street level.

Home sweet home.

Eddie took a deep, steadying breath before making his way up. The door to the apartment building had been left slightly ajar so he didn’t have to buzz anyone to get in. His hand shook as he pushed it aside.

As he came up to the landing the apartment was on, he saw the door already swinging open. Instead of Sam coming out like he expected, a ginger cat slipped through the doorway. There was a second where they both paused and stared at each other in recognition. Then, as if a switch had flipped, the morbidly obese cat was swallowed by black goo, creating a hulking, vaguely cat-like creature with two rows of needle-sharp teeth and a long, dripping tongue. It crouched low, ready to pounce. Large claws gripped the carpet and it’s sharp tail whipped back and forth, hitting the door-frame haphazardly.

Eddie’s stomach dropped heavily.

He’d made a terrible mistake coming here.

He started to back up but Venom was already bounding along the hallway towards him. Eddie’s feet got tangled underneath him and he felt himself falling backwards as the creature took a leaping jump towards him.

“NO!!”

There was a loud thud and a spark of pain as he collided with the ground, covering his face with his arms as if that’d stop Venom from eating it off.

A heavy weight landed on his chest. Eddie waited for more pain but when nothing happened, he peaked in between his arms and saw the ginger cat staring back at him intently, head tilted. He dropped his hands and stared back.

The cat let out a meow that definitely sounded like “Eddie” (poor Sam, he thought) and strands of black started protruding from the cat’s chest, forming the head of the cat-like version of Venom but separate from the cat’s own body. The head came right up to Eddie’s face and they were nose to nose. He could feel it’s hot steaming breath.

Venom was hesitating on taking him and whilst he didn’t understand why, Eddie seized the opportunity to offer an alternative.

He cleared his throat, willing his voice not to shake. “I know who you are.” Both heads meowed in unison. “I’m not here to… please don’t latch onto me…. I don’t want… just leave this guy alone okay?” he indicated to the apartment door. “We can go back to mine and figure something else out but please just don’t eat me?”

Neither the cat nor the floating head responded (what was he expecting?) but the alien receded back into the cat’s body and the cat jumped off Eddie’s chest with as much grace as an obese cat can possess.

Eddie stood, not believing his luck. He’d half-expected to die tonight. “Right…. Uhhh... let’s go then I guess.”

He headed back down the stairs with the cat close at his heel.

The ride back had been weird. They’d taken his bike but there was no storage section for him to put Venom in. The alien had sat between his legs, front paws up on the handle bars watching the road in front of them. Eddie was sure that from an outsider’s perspective this probably looked either ridiculously cute or ridiculously dangerous. But the main thought running through his mind was of his own arms locked onto the handlebars by Venom’s black tendrils when the alien had taken control during that fatal car chase with the Life Foundation’s goons. At any second Venom could decide to take over through the cat’s tiny paws and the idea put Eddie on the edge of panic.

 

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They arrived without incident.

It was close to 7pm when they walked through the door and Eddie was at a complete loss as to what to do now.

He dumped his keys on the counter, heading to the fridge on auto-pilot and grabbing a beer to help him think. Suddenly, the cat was at his feet meowing and weaving between his legs.

“You hungry?”

“Meow,”

“Alright then,” he searched the fridge for something suitable.

He had plenty of mince in the fridge but when he’d been with Venom, dead meat hadn’t been what he wanted. Not knowing what to give the symbiote, he laid out a bunch of options on the floor for him to choose from. Oddly enough, the cat used its tiny paw to indicate that it wanted tater tots.

“Hot?” he pointed at the oven, “or cold?” he tapped the bag. The cat walked over to the oven, rubbing its cheek up against it. “No worries,”

When he turned back from putting the tray into the oven, Venom had sat himself on the island counter, his head tilted. It was hard to know which actions belongs to the cat and which belonged to Venom but Eddie had a feeling he was being thoroughly scrutinised.

“What?”

Tentatively, a small black tendril protruded from the cat’s side, reaching out towards Eddie. Eddie backed up immediately. “No. I can’t do that for you. I just…. I know you have no where to go but maybe you can live here with me and I can bring you as much tater tots as you want and you can try to not eat everyone?” he shrugged hopelessly.

The cat started pacing and yowling agitatedly, obviously trying to get a point across that Eddie had no hope of deciphering. 

He shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t understand what you’re saying buddy. But we’re gonna figure something out okay? Let's just start with dinner.”

When the tater tots were cooked, he deposited them into a bowl and sat them on the counter for Venom.

The rest of the evening passed somewhat peacefully. It felt rather ridiculous to go back to working with an alien residing in his apartment but nothing had been thrown so out of whack that he couldn’t. He was pouring over notes from a missing persons cold-case from the early 2000s. Ten year old Kristi Harrington had gone missing 15 years ago and despite her being the daughter of a police chief and the department pulling out all the stops to find her, she was never seen again.

It wasn’t normally his type of case, a far-cry from the human rights and activism pieces that gained him popularity at the peak of his career. However, there’d been a shrine set up at the local mall (the last place she’d been seen alive) by her friends on the 15th anniversary of her disappearance. He’d seen the shrine several weeks ago and immediately decided to read more into. It had been as good a distraction as any.

Venom had watched Eddie work for a while but then seemed to get bored and sat at the window, staring out at the street for the rest of the night. He was still there when Eddie said goodnight (feeling ludicrous talking to a cat… that’d take some getting used to) and turned out the lights to sleep.

 

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He was awoken suddenly several hours later by a crashing in the kitchen.

Suspecting burglars, Eddie immediately jumped out of bed as quietly as possible. He grabbed an empty beer-bottle from his bedside table as a weapon and crept towards the door intending to listen to the invader’s movements. But before he could even get close to the door, it swung open forcefully reveling a tall, skinny, dark skinned man in baggy jean and a top knot. He looked terrified.

“Help m-” the man started but he was cut off by a demonic version of own voice as Venom took over.

**“Now we will talk Eddie,”**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

 

Eddie stared incredulously at the stranger before him that Venom was wearing as a suit. Poor guy looked desperately back at him, obviously trying to use his mouth to ask for help again but Venom was cutting off his ability to speak. Rage flared in his chest.

“Do you even see what you’re doing?” he said, his voice rising in volume. “You don’t get it do it? _This,_ ” he indicated to the stranger’s body vaguely with the beer bottle still in his hand, “this is the whole problem!”

 **“What?”** Venom looked down at the stranger disbelievingly, trying to find a flaw.

“You’ve just gone out and seen him and decided to take _his body_ for a joyride!” Eddie raged, gesticulating wildly, “And for what? So we could have a _conversation?_ I told you I was going to sort something out but you couldn’t just wait, could you?”

Venom seemed to hesitate, was it possible he even looked a bit ashamed? **“We made sure he was an adequate enough match that we wouldn’t kill him immediately.”**

“Oh jeez, we’ll I’m sure he’s _very_ thankful for all your care and consideration. Where’s the cat? Get back in the cat.” Eddie peered around the stranger, looking through the doorway for the chubby ginger. When he tried to make eye contact with Venom, the symbiote was avoiding him. “Did you eat him?!”

 **“No!”** Venom denied vehemently, **“We let him go free so he can go home to his family.”**

Eddie chewed on his cheek and took a deep breath through his nose. “And how far away is his home?”

 **“Two hours away by cat,”** Venom muttered.

“Right,” said Eddie sharply, his indignation building. However terrified he’d been of Venom yesterday, it seemed to have faded in the face of the suffering of the (probably lost) cat and this young man that was involuntarily standing in front of him. “Right. Do you realise that there’s a high likelihood that an animal of that intelligence, not to mention fitness level, will not have the easiest time getting home safely?”

**“You are mad at us, Eddie.”**

“Do you understand why?”

Venom did not answer.

“You have great power Venom, more than most creatures on this planet at a guess. If you’re going to stay here you need to restrain your power and respect that every person – and animal – has a right to its own free will. You can’t just go stealing people because you need them and dumping them when you're done. They have to say it’s okay.”

 **“We didn’t take you when you said no,”** said Venom, steadily looking Eddie in the eye.

Some of Eddie’s anger ebbed away. He dumped the empty beer bottle on the bed. “I know buddy, but you can’t just extend that courtesy to the people you like.”

Venom seemed to consider this point. He must have released some control on the stranger because suddenly he was pacing the room, hands clutching his head.

“There’s someone in my head!” he looked up at Eddie in a panic. “What’s wrong with me?”

“I know this is a lot but you’ve got a parasite inside you,” Eddie said gently.

**“Parasite?!”**

He continued speaking to the young man as if Venom hadn’t spoken. “I’m going to get it out of you, but we just need to hash this out. If he could just use your body for another hour, hour and a half tops, I’ll get this sorted out.”

The man stared him incredulously, “You’re not serious?” Eddie gave a pathetic shrug. “You’re just as nuts as I am!” he turned on his heel, heading for the front door.

“Wait!” called Eddie, chasing after him, hoping that they didn’t make it to the door because he was still only wearing his boxers. He caught the stranger’s arm and pulled him to face him. “I know this is scary and shitty and you didn’t ask for any of it. But that guy in your head? He’s my friend, a kind of pile of black goo that has its own brain.”

“Black goo?”

Eddie was still gripping the man’s arm and he could feel that his skin was starting to burn up in reaction to the symbiotes presence.

“There was a black goo thing at the park. It came out of that cat and jumped onto my leg.” He looked down at his leg as though checking if the substance was still there. “I thought I was seeing things…”

Eddie let him consider for a moment, hoping he wouldn’t need much more convincing. Then he offered, “I can get him out of you, he just needs to use your body for a while longer, is that okay? You’re gonna come out alright, I swear.” There was a sweat breaking out on the man’s forehead.

Poor guy looked to be about 25. He'd probably been out partying with friends; most likely this was not how he’d seen his night ending up. He nodded slowly. “Okay. One hour,”

“Thanks so much,” said Eddie emphatically, “I’ll set a timer.” He stepped around the man to head over to the microwave. “And we’re just gonna chat and then we’ll go find that cat and you’ll be back on your way.”

Eddie turned back to man but he was obviously no longer in control. There was a calmness about him that Eddie knew meant Venom had taken the wheel.

Eddie grabbed a beer from the fridge (it’s 1.30am, surely it’s socially acceptable at this time) and went over to the couch. Venom followed without question, sitting the stranger down beside him.

**“Why don’t you want us?”**

Starting with the big questions then, Eddie thought as he let out a big sigh. He sat forward, his elbows on his knees, head resting in his free hand. “I…. well, I’m scared. Terrified really. Of losing control and turning into a complete monster and losing my chance to get my old life back.” He took a swig of the beer and lent back again. “I give myself over to you and to me, it feels like that’s it. I’m done. I can never get back what I had.”

**“You don’t understand what you mean to me, Eddie. I gave up my race and killed a superior. I can never go back. All for you, because I want you. Because we are a good match. We can be great together. Better than before.”**

“I know you did that and I’m thankful, I really am. But to be perfectly honest, I’m barely keeping my head above water without you pulling me around and eating people.”

 **“I just want to be with you.”** Said Venom quietly, **“I can help, you want your old life we can help get it.”** Eddie tried not to scoff at the idea of Venom trying to help him feel like an actual human again. **“We’re better together. You’re a loser Eddie, so am I.”**

“I guess I just don’t understand why,”

**“Why what?”**

He didn’t really want to answer that. What he wanted to say was why he was so pathetic that this option actually sounded appealing. He must be sick in the head to think that allowing an alien into his body and his mind was the best way to go about sorting his life out.

He tried to remember how he’d felt during the whirlwind of his last symbiosis with Venom. It’d been terrifying, like being caught in the midst of a drivable tornado with no idea how the controls worked. And whilst it had been scary having something that powerful inside him, he had been allowed to take the wheel when it mattered to him. Venom had not been beyond reason and had even listened to what Eddie wanted. Perhaps so much so that he fought to save the planet? Maybe.

But he really didn’t want to confess all his feelings to this poor possessed guy in his apartment who would undoubtably remember everything.

**“Eddie?”**

He turned to look at Venom, pretending to consider for a moment longer before saying, “Okay, let’s do it.”

In a millisecond, Venom pulled the stranger into Eddie’s personal space, forcing him up against the couch, their chests pressed together. The stranger’s hand snuck up to the back of Eddie’s neck and before Eddie could protest, the man’s mouth was on his, his tongue diving into his mouth.

Eddie grunted an objection but he was either misunderstood or ignored because Venom kept going. The kiss was heated and sloppy, like a teenager who had no idea what they were doing but were making up for the inexperience with gusto.

With his eyes wide open, Eddie could see when Venom started seeping from the stranger and moving onto him. The second Venom had sunk into his skin, the tightness in his chest that had been a constant companion of recent months dissipated.

_What a relief._

The stranger yanked himself out of Eddie’s arms (when had Eddie grabbed his shoulders?) and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, looking disgusted and confused.

“You’re fucked up man,” he started backing up and Eddie decided not to follow him. “And that was the gayest shit I ever heard.” He’d made it to the door and walked through it without looking back.

“Wait, do you want a lift somewhere?” Eddie shouted after him.

“Fuck you!” was the only response. The man was already halfway down the corridor.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie and Venom set out to right Venom's wrong by finding the ginger cat. But they just get distracted.

 

**CHAPTER FIVE**

They’d been walking the streets for several hours trying to find that goddamn, fat fucking cat with no luck. Eddie was sweating buckets, his stomach was cramping with an insane hunger and his feet ached from endless wandering.

**We need food,** said Venom. **Your liver is starting to look really, really good and juicy.**

Eddie pointed his finger accusatorily at the air in front of him. “Don’t you threaten me. This is all your fault anyway,” he shook his head to clear it. The hunger was so strong that he felt nauseous and dizzy. It was hard to think straight.

He felt himself being pulled in the opposite direction.

**Let me-**

“No!” Eddie pulled back. “This way, there’s a place up here. We can get something there.” He petted his pockets making sure he’d brought his wallet with him.

Soon they’d stepped through the doorway of _Finger’s Crossed,_ a dodgy looking bakery café.

“Sorry sir,” said a girl with fake red-hair behind the counter. She looked him up and down warily. “We’re just opening up so it’ll be about 15 minutes before we’re ready to do coffee and food.”

Eddie peered into the display cabinet as he wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his sleeve. “That’s okay, I just want that cake.” He pointed at it, leaving greasy fingerprints on the glass.

“The 12inch mud chocolate birthday cake?” the girl raised an eyebrow at him. “At 5am on a Friday?”

“Yes please,” he replied, trying not to look like a total mental case. It was just so hot in here! He ripped off his jumper and used it to soak up more sweat from his face.

“Are you alright sir?”

He tried to give a reassuring smile and practically threw his card her with his shaky hands. “Oh fine, I’m fine. Do you have water here?” his voice came out strained. He definitely looked crazy.

“Uhhhh yeah,” she pointed to a glass urn in the corner.

Eddie busied himself drinking several glasses whilst she boxed up the cake for him. He took it from her, sheepishly waving his thanks with a fork in hand.

VNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNM

**Eddie, what is this?** Venom practically moaned after their first bite. **It’s delicious.**

“Chocolate cake,” replied Eddie, stuffing in mouthful after mouthful as fast as possible. The cramping in his stomach finally started to ease, allowing him some relief. “Good right? Not my favourite flavour personally but still, pretty tasty!”

They were sitting in the corner of the café as it was being set up. The first customers of the day started filtering through but they paid them little mind as they ploughed through the cake. When they were nearly done, the smell of coffee wafted over to them and Eddie peaked out from around the cake box to look at the counter.

**Should we go back to looking for the cat now?**

“Not yet,” said Eddie, getting up. “We’re still hungry, let’s get more food, and some coffee.” The symbiote hummed in approval. “You want anything in particular? Oh, hash browns, you’re gonna love hash browns.”

He ordered the biggest hot breakfast with extra hash browns from the disbelieving red-head behind the counter before sitting back down to work on the remainder of the cake. “We’re going to keep looking for the cat after this, I’m just, I’m still hungry. I don’t think I’ve ever been this hungry in my life.”

**We need meat. Fresh meat.**

“Yeah well, that’s not happening right now. We’ll sort something out though, trust me.”

“You doing alright Eddie?”

He looked up from his cake.

It was Dan in a shirt and tie with a coffee in one hand and a concerned look on his face. He was way too put together for this time of the day. “I’ve got to say, as your doctor, you don’t look so good.” In the closest thing to a power move Dan’s ever done, he pushed the cake box aside and took the seat opposite Eddie, looking at him expectantly. “You’re burning up, you’re filthy and you’re talking to yourself. The nice woman at the counter was so disturbed by you, she warned me from coming over here. Seemed to think you were a real nutjob.” Eddie shot a glare in her direction, as if this was her fault. “Something you want to tell me?”

“Dan, good to see you! What’re you doing up so early?” said Eddie, avoiding the question with what he hoped was a casual air and trying to plaster a natural looking smile on his face.

“Morning shift at the hospital,” said Dan gently, seeming to switch tactics on a dime. “You could come with me if you like? Maybe we could run a scan _._ See if we can’t clear out your system.”

Venom snapped reflexively, slamming their fists on the table. **“Is that a threat, human?”**

Dan jumped in his seat, leaning away from them, his eyes wide.

“NO!” yelled Eddie, ripping their hands off the table. The other patrons had turned to stare. “We _like_ Dan,” He whispered harshly.

**You hate Dan.**

“That’s not true and you know it.” Eddie corrected quickly as though Dan could hear what Venom had said. It took him a second to catch up and realise that Dan couldn’t have heard that because the discussion was happening in his head.

Oh god.

He _definitely_ looked crazy.

“No, thank you. That’s really kind of you but we’re good.”

Dan gave them a searching look across the crumb covered table, his head tilted. “I have to say it… I really think keeping that _thing_ inside you is a bad idea. It nearly killed you last time.” He indicated to Eddie’s chest with a pointed look.

“Its not like that…” said Eddie, getting frustrated. Why should he have to explain himself to Dan? Just because he’s nice? Just because he helped him out that _one time_ when he was dying? Dan was keeping Anne further away from them, another roadblock to him getting his life back. He didn’t owe him an explanation. Eddie rallied himself and stared defiantly back at the doctor. “It’s none of your business anyway.”

He immediately saw Dan clam up, his gentle demeanour dropping. He stood up, grabbing his coffee and turning to leave.

“Wait!”

Dan paused, looking back at him.

“Please don’t tell Anne about this.”

The doctor seemed to take a steadying breath before saying, “This is not something I’m going to keep from Anne, she needs to know for her safety.”

“Oh….” Eddie felt a small pool of dread start to build up in his stomach.

Dan studied him for a moment. “And here’s some advice you didn’t ask for: if you’re going to be chattering away to the monster in your head, consider wearing headphones so that you look like you’re on a phone call instead of just looking completely insane.”

Dan left as their hot meal was arriving. Eddie felt so ill he almost didn’t feel like eating. Almost.

“Was actually pretty good advice,” he conceded to Venom between mouthfuls. “Even if he was a bit of a prick about it all.”

**See, we hate Dan.**

“Hate is too strong,” replied Eddie, trying not to linger too much on the thought. “Definitely dislike somethings about him and like a lot of things about him. And some of the things I like make me dislike him even more.”

**Makes no sense.**

“Well, welcome to being human where you can feel two opposing things at the same time.”

There was no response to that so they finished their meal in companionable silence and then headed off to find that damn cat again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably going to be more than 7 chapters now. I'll figure it out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a sexually explicit scene in this chapter. Just a heads up.

**CHAPTER SIX**

It was a Sunday. Or a Saturday. It was definitely one day of the week but that’s not really what was important. What mattered was keeping his focus on the road and making sure not to get them killed. The night was warm so the driver’s side window was open, letting in a torrent of refreshing wind. Being this far out of the city meant that the sky was littered with stars that he didn’t normally get to see. It was probably a glorious view. But Eddie wasn’t really paying attention to that. He needed to be paying attention to the road and keeping them between the lines.

But he was more focused on Anne’s mouth that was currently doing laps of his cock.

Eddie let out a groan as Anne sucked up to the head, rolling her tongue around the rim once, twice, three times before opening wide and swallowing as much of him as his seated position would allow.

He let his foot hover over the break cautiously, just wanting to lean back and close his eyes but that would be a fatal mistake. She was getting into a steady rhythm that he knew would have him coming in minutes. Its sloppy and the front of his pants are going to have a wet patch from the spit that Anne hasn’t been bothered enough by to wipe away. But he doesn’t care. He wants to roll his hips up into the sweet heat of her mouth but resists.

“Babe,” he cups the back of her head gentle, “You gotta stop. Not that I want you to, like at all, but this could be trouble.”

Anne sits up, untwisting from her awkward position, wiping her mouth with a sly smile. “Okay,” she looks towards the road and reaches one hand over to grab his cock. She starts massaging him gently, not enough to get him to come but enough to keep him hard until they get back to the Air BnB.

As soon as the car is parked, Eddie’s jumping out the door and racing round the other side. Anne gives out a delighted shriek as he pulls her out and flips her around, bending her over the hood. Fumbling in his eagerness, he reaches down, lifts the edge of her skirt and pushes her undies aside before thrusting himself into her warm, wet pussy.

“Fuck….” Anne whimpered quietly below him as he began thrusting into her, his hands wrapped around her hips. There was no need to be quiet really, here the middle of nowhere, no one would hear them.

Eddie was awoken by his own hand wrapping around his cock. He’d unconsciously started to masturbate mid-dream.

Without missing a beat, he kept going, jerking himself roughly, only slightly hindered by his boxers. The dream floated in his mind’s eye. Although it wasn’t really a dream but a memory of a night when he and Anne had been on a random weekend away and had fucked on the hood of her car under millions of stars. She’d been so deliciously horny, groaning as they rocked together, her hand reaching between her legs to massage her clit, bringing her closer and closer to orgasm. Eddie felt the tension in his abdomen build, he was getting closer and closer as he remembered her beneath him, wanting him as badly as he wanted her. She had realised quickly that there was no need to stifle her moans and her pleasure was soon being heard by the woods around them.

**Feels good.**

The fantasy shattered and he yanked his hand from his boxers.

How could he have forgotten? He was living with another being in his body, he would never have a second alone again, not truly. The idea of jerking off to Anne with someone else getting a front row seat of both the fantasy and the reality _really_ tarnished his ability to enjoy himself freely. Venom was a being of unknown age and limitless power, who’d travelled the universe seeing who knew how many worlds. Watching Eddie jacking himself off was probably tantamount to watching a dog hump a pillow….

 **I can be quiet.** Venom offered, obviously feeling his frustration.

“Doesn’t really solve the issue,” Eddie snapped back. “And get out of my head!”

When there was no response, he flicked back the sheets and stomped over to the bathroom where he ran himself a cold shower.

He’d apologise later. For now he just wanted to die of embarrassment and frustration in _solitude._

VNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNMVNM

It’d been two weeks since they’d merged. And to be quite frank, Eddie had honestly never realised just how much he jerked off until he couldn’t anymore. It was a bitch. He hadn’t taken this many cold showers since he was a teenager.

However there were perks to the whole thing. Physically Eddie felt amazing. The aches in his muscles were gone, that clicking in his knee had disappeared, he wasn’t getting headaches anymore. He could lift a lot (seriously, _a lot_ ) at the gym, so much that it was probably pointless even going. But he still did, solely because it got him out of the house.

He also dwelled less these days. Venom was always there with some question or comment to distract him whenever he started getting sucked into the black hole that is his depression. Maybe not the healthiest way of coping but the dread from the idea of having to wake up and do _life_ again everyday was gone. His chest felt lighter.

Apart from the situation with Anne which randomly popped into his head at inappropriate moments, filling him with a vague panic.

She still hadn’t spoken to him, not since the incident with Dan who would have undoubtably told her about the current over-crowding in Eddie’s body. She obviously didn’t want a bar of him now. The invitation to dinner that she promised never arrived.

And he was too chicken to bring it up himself for fear have having to face _actual rejection._ Leaving it as it was allowed for the possibility that he wasn’t completely cut off from her now. He doesn’t know how he could possibly live with that again.

**Hungry!**

“Yeah, yeah,” Eddie replied, shifting them to the kitchen.

They were also starving, all the time. His food expenses were through the roof which wasn’t a problem with the money from the Life Foundation. But it was a pain in the ass.

The aches and pains that he’d lost had just been replaced with a seemingly unending hunger.

There were grievances to this partnership but Eddie could see the potential too. Once they’d fed themselves enough to think straight, they’d actually been able to find that ginger cat and return it to its owners a couple weeks ago. The young couple were ecstatic to the point of tears when they saw that obese animal in Eddie’s arms. Apparently it’s name was Sardine.

When Eddie told the couple that the cat was so obsessed with food because it was lonely and that they should get another cat to keep it company, they thanked him again and shut the door in his face.

Curiosity got the better of him on the way home and he asked Venom: “How’d you even get to be a cat in the first place?”

The answer went like this:

When the explosion happened and Venom was ripped from Eddie’s body, they both landed in the water separately. Needing a host, Venom found the first living organism he could. He attached to a fish. Not a big fish but a good fish, a fish that hung in a school of thousands that moved as one. It was peaceful as a fish for a while and he needed the time to heal from the battle with Riot so he was content to hitch a ride.

But then he got eaten by a shark. So he ate the shark from the inside and he felt stronger.

He was hoping to get access to a human but as a fish in water there weren’t many options for viable hosts. When the school of fish came across a whale, he merged with it to try a different tactic. Venom saw in the whales mind the memories of a relative becoming beached and his whale pacing the shallows, waiting for it to return. The whale had seen it’s friend surrounded by humans and feared for its life even more. Daringly, Venom took control of the whale and forced it to swim too far in land and then when the tide went out, he and the whale were beached.

It was a risky move but the people came just like in the whales memories and Venom had a selection to choose from. He took a woman, she wasn’t a good match but the whale had been dying and he had to do something before he was dragged to death with it. That woman was the one who owned the cat, who was a far better match for them.

When he’d heard this, Eddie was dumbfounded to say the least. “I can’t believe you killed that whale… I wrote a story on that. Complete crap.”

**You’re missing the point Eddie. I _ate_ a shark from the inside. **

“Yeah,” conceded Eddie. “That is pretty cool.”


End file.
